TV Review: Gossip Girl 6×09 – “The Revengers”

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The second-to-last episode of Gossip Girl begins with Blair having another Audrey Hepburn inspired dream. This time, she and Chuck are Audrey and Cary Grant in Charade. The dream turns nightmarish when Bart appears, thus waking up Blair from her slumber. I do like Blair’s Hepburn dreams, and it sort of makes me sad that that was probably the last one we’ll see.

United and ready for “war,” Blair and Chuck get Serena to help them contact Ivy so that they can lure in Bart Bass and somehow make him confess to all the bad things he has done. Unfortunately, Bart is a step ahead of them. He finds out that Nate is playing double agent and calls the feds to have him arrested. (Nate sort of does belong in jail for making the bad Homeland reference.) Knowing that he’s in a predicament, Chuck faces his father, who then tells Chuck that he has to leave to Moscow and stay there forever, if he wants Nate to get out of jail. Chuck refuses, which causes Bart to briefly take Blair hostage. When Chuck hears of this, he races to them. Blair is fine, but Bart makes an underlining and dangerous threat to her if Chuck still refuses to leave. Finally, Chuck agrees, and when Blair finds out, she rushes to him to stop him from getting on the plane. Chuck reasons with her that Bart would never try to kill his own son and boards the plane after one sweet kiss with Blair.

And all this only happened in the first half of the episode!

The change of pace in “The Revengers” was very refreshing, and I found myself hardly distracted throughout the episode, especially the first half when things tend to move slowly and can be a little dull. The episode finally moves into “the party/drama showdown” element, as Blair still won’t give up getting revenge on Bart. She enlists other master schemers (Ivy, Sage, Georgina) and Serena. Together, they show up at Bart’s Real Estate Man of the Year party hoping to wreak vengeance. They are starting to get successful until Bart takes Blair aside, and she sees on the news that one of Bart’s planes has gone missing. Instantly, Blair knows that it’s likely Chuck’s. In shock, Bart leaves to prepare for accepting his award, which Dan agreed to introduce.

Earlier, Dan asked Bart to give him a reference for the new apartment he wanted to buy. In return, Bart would like him to profile and introduce him at the ceremony. It’s with his conversation with Bart, that he reveals that he still loves Serena and wants to be near her. At the party, Dan confronts Serena about his feelings, and knowing how he manipulated her, Serena refuses to help him, especially because he’s also on Bart’s side. To prove that he was on her side, Dan announces Chuck Bass to stage, rather than Bart. Chuck storms up to the podium, very much alive, and reveals how his father tried to kill him. Security takes him away to the roof. Bart meets him there, where they argue and then fight as Blair arrives up there to see what’s going on.

In the most overwrought and dramatic scene in the history of Gossip Girl and maybe even The CW television, Bart falls over the side of the building, hanging on by his hands. He begs Chuck and Blair for help, as the truly horrendous musical score swells, but they don’t help him and he slips and falls to his death. Immediately, Blair and Chuck flee the rooftop, and the episode ends with “to be continued…”

This could’ve been a really epic episode, if it weren’t for that last scene. I mean, really? What were the GG writers and director thinking? Bart’s death could’ve gone a lot smoother and a lot less comical. Is there something I’m missing here? If that scene was supposed to be ironic or alluding to something, I completely missed it. As did many other fans.

With Bart dead and Nate out of jail, things will definitely fall into place for the series finale. I am mad that my “Bart Bass is Gossip Girl” theory also fell off the building, but I’m curious to see if Nate and Sage will finally crack the show’s biggest mystery: Who is Gossip Girl? Frankly, it will re-establish Nate’s presence on the show because I sometimes wonder why we even bother with him anymore. (Sorry, I’m always so mean to Nate!) As for Dan, he’s feeling remorseful for what he did, but I’m happy Serena isn’t making it easy for him. Manipulating her – or anyone – like that is horrible. While I do feel sorry for him and want Derena back together, I don’t blame Serena for going to LA. My main wish is that the “good” chapter that he snuck into her luggage doesn’t automatically lead to romantic thing between them. Derena need a slow burn the second or third (or is it fourth, now?) time around.

I’m pretty excited for next week. It’s going to be interesting to see how the GG writers wrap up the series. I’m prepared for it to be overly sentimental and fan-pleasing. I’m hoping it doesn’t contain any scenes that are as offensively bad as the last one in this episode. Yet, my true and only wish is that we do find out who Gossip Girl is. And no, a lame fake-out along the lines of “You are Gossip Girl” to the viewers does not cut it.

Rating: 8/10 – Fast paced and consistently entertaining, but that ending is so atrocious.

The Gossip Girl two-hour series finale airs next week, Monday, December 17th at 8/7c.

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Gabrielle founded The Young Folks in 2010 with Luciana Villalba. Since then, she has served as editor-in-chief and oversees the staff and editorial content on the site. She is currently an undergrad at Northwestern University, studying English and cinema studies.